By Quaid Najmi

Mumbai, Jan 3 (IANS): Shortly after the Centre declined to grant extension to Sameer Wankhede, the controversial Narcotics Control Bureau Mumbai Zonal Director, Maharashtra Minorities Minister Nawab Malik said on Monday that the "war against the wrongdoings" of the officer will continue.

Speaking to mediapersons, Malik termed Wankhede's transfer as 'justified' and 'necessary' to curb his 'arbitrary style of functioning' in the Mumbai NCB, despite intensive 'lobbying' by a big BJP leader from New Delhi seeking another extension.

The Nationalist Congress Party leader's media briefing came after the IRS officer's extended tenure at NCB ended on December 31, and as per the available information, he will now be posted with the Department of Revenue Intelligence (DRI).

"From the day he (Wankhede) took charge here, he had been indulging in 'farziwada' (fabricating cases), dumping innocent persons into jail, many people were trapped in fake cases, besides committing many other irregularities, but we have exposed everything," said Malik.

He reiterated how Wankhede had submitted a fake caste certificate to get a central job, concealed his income, secured a liquor licence in his name when he was minor and concealing this fact while working for the government, suppressing information about his spouse, and other things which are now being probed.

"We brought all this out in the public domaina. The fake caste certificate matter is currently being probed. I am also a complainant in the matter and my legal team is attending to it. He will definitely forfeit his job because of the fraudulent caste document," Malik said.

He pointed out that there are two different probes going against Wankhede -- how he violated his service conditions and the Cordelia Cruise ship raids of October 2, 2021 involving Bollywood megastar Shah Rukh Khan's son, Arya Khan -- and asserted that he would "pursue them to their logical end".

On his claims that a senior BJP leader had lobbied hard to get him an extension, Malik declined to name him as (Wankhede's) transfer is now confirmed, but said if Wankhede had not been shunted out, he would have resorted to RTI queries to ascertain who was the politician rooting strongly for him.

Referring to Wankhede's statements that he had not sought an extension but was planning to go on a two-month leave, the minister termed this as a 'plant' and asked why he was not transferred even though his tenure had ended.

"Wherever illegalities have been committed by Wankhede, we shall submit all the evidence before the courts to prove them. It will be proved and he will definitely face actiona. They tried to intimidate and threaten me and my family, but we are not scared of them," the minister said.